Wings Of Dread

 Amelia tossed and turned, groaned and moaned, and even  tore her bedsheets to shreds before she got out of her bed.
Today was an especially hot day, and Lisa still expected her to "rest well". So she decided to sneak into Greely's room.
Greely was asleep, and Amelia suspected that there was no way she could convince him to watch the stars with her at midnight, especially since that made him nostalgic for Shade. Amelia's attention was diverted to a table before her, though.
A frame with green palm leaves lay on the table, unfinished, but Amelia could clearly see that they were wings. The leaves sparkled, showing her that they were enchanted.
Now, a normal animal would turn away at the sight of those wings, because they defied the normal nature of Jamaa, and magic items always led to trouble. But Amelia was daring, and she plucked the wings off the table as one would pluck a bird's feather.

 Every breeze tonight was hot, which meant that riding the wind, Amelia would probably rise high enough to cool down as she flapped.
Good thing that Greely had finished the wings enough to add some Velcro to attach to fur, else Amelia would have to wake up Graham to finish them.

And Graham was grumpy if he didn't get enough sleep every night, believe me.
So Amelia started flapping, and she rose and rose. Pollen sparkled in the breeze, as it was of rare fruit, and Amelia frolicked among the evening birds and owls. She laughed out loud several times, watching a few night Jammers the size of ants, at least to her. Amelia didn't pay attention to the ground, though, and soon was flying over the coast to the open sea.
 Storm clouds and tailwinds threatened Amelia, but by the time she realized she was far from land, she was indeed very, very far from land. Amelia jerked this way and that, barely dodging vultures and lightning.
Then, Amelia approached land, but alas, it wasn't Jamaa! Instead, she saw a land larger than Jamaa, and lowered herself down to get a better look.
 Amelia was shocked at how much the land looked like Jamaa. The land was lush, yet tainted faintly by a long-ago war, which sounded a lot like Jamaa.
Monkeys that looked different from the monkeys in Jamaa played ball all around, but many heroes also battled monsters in crumbling ruins using weapons the Alphas used in the First Phantom War. What was going on?
Then, she saw a sign that read:

                                   Welcome To Ook

 and knew that she was in this land called "Ook". Amelia kept flying around, and learned more about this strange land of Ook. There were five tribes called Crossroads, Sea Dragons, Chim Foo, Ootu Mystics, and Ice Raiders. There was also some sort of steampunk tribe, but Amelia saw nothing about that tribe. She learned all about the Monkey King by overhearing conversations, blah blah blah, but then she saw some sort of glint in Z'or. The glint enticed her to come to it, and Amelia couldn't help but to swoop down and look.

 The glint was very hard to detect once she entered the cold field of energy around Z'or, which burned like icefire. Something powerful was nearby, as not even the Coraxese ice palace atmosphere burned this much, and the palaces were teeming with spells.
Icicles froze her several times, but her muscles managed to wriggle her out. There were some weird "Spikers", squirrels that came out of the snow to shoot spikes, but she easily clawed them into little magic pieces. 
 Amelia guessed the myths were different in Ook despite the striking similarity to Jamaa, because the monsters died differently and they worshipped other magic protectors, which Amelia expected.
After a lot of struggling against the wind currents, she found a place deep in the heart of Z'or. Icicles formed a makeshift prison around a dark purple amethyst, which radiated a sort of icefire. Amelia shivered, since icefire was so powerful that it burned and froze you at the same time, like frostbite, only that it had many complicated magic properties even Greely had yet to figure out.
Amelia read the runes on a stone, and it seemed to explain the founding of Ook, in the Jamaasian myth and the Ook myth. It seemed as if the Jamaasians had the full story, but you could never be sure with mythology.
The stone rose, and a gnarled face that seemed like a cross between Apophis and a beat-up phantom appeared in the smoke inside the stone. Amelia now saw that it was shaped like a crude heart.
What is your desire... the stone whispered. The whisper was more of a rasp, the makings of the earth's blood and the smoke.
Amelia faced the stone boldly, and the face smiled.
Oh, young one, I am the Shadow Demon Ka, a sleeping serpent that was created from Apophis, as the legend states. That proud Monkey King shattered me with this little stick... argh, if he was still alive, I would bash him with my best minions! Ka snarled. Amelia knew that Ka was more powerful than all the phantoms combined, and now wondered how Ook  got by with such an evil creature under the surface. Then again, the evil monsters were running loose.
 Oh, of all creatures, it is me that knows you Alphas are fighting a hopeless battle. Your desire is one I could fulfill, if you gave in. I needn't no questions, my tentacles read minds mighty fine. Your desire is to make yourself accepted as a rogue. Well, my family are unruly rogues! You would be more than welcome to join me...if you wish. Ka whispered. Amelia stared at Ka unblinkingly. He sure did persuade well, but her oaths would stop her from treachery. Sensing her thoughts, the stone whispered even more.
You know my limits, as a rogue, so you know my vast power reserves can cut those bonds as easily as you would cut a cucumber. And with those sharp claws, you can cut anything. Amelia, if you don't swear oaths to join me as a lieutenant, at least free the stone from the cage and bring me to Jamaa... I promise, without the other Shadow Shards I cannot assist any evil or escape your bonds. After all, your curses and oaths are stronger than mine... Ka said. Amelia knew that she would need Ka later on to save Jamaa, so she went over her options as the stone just floated there, Ka's Shadow Heart taking in the new icicles that had grown around the stone. The Shadow Heart was the center of Ka's spirit, which meant that all the Shadow Shards had to connect to it to regenerate Ka.
"Fine," Amelia said boldly, "but you will have to swear my oaths."
Ka smiled.
I swear that I shall not destroy Jamaa, nor help the Phantom legions in any way, and if I break any oath or not  bend to your will, the heart of me will be shattered into a million pieces. Ka said, doing the oath Amelia was just about to give him. And so, she hacked apart his bonds and put the Shadow Heart between her paw and the leaf wings.

 "You brought a deadly demon HERE?!" Marco shouted, pounding his table of maps and plans. Amelia nodded, holding the Shadow Heart in a linen cloth between her jaws.
"Yes, I made Ka swear oaths, and I will let him possess me until further notice." Amelia said. Marco sighed.
"Well, if anyone were to be trusted, it would be you, but Sabre warned me a long time ago when we were friends that Ka were not to be trusted. If you let him possess you, be safe." Marco said under his breath. Amelia let her body absorb Ka. 

[Another] Part Three

 Inside, there were ghosts dressed in spiritual robes, definitely phantoms that died long ago. The ghosts took no heed of King, but he stepped around them carefully anyway. He had to scream three times before he could get over his fear.
The next room wasn't much better.
Gold, crystals, rubies, diamonds and other minerals of value were scattered at his paws, beckoning him to step on them. Only, the big ones were screaming "Don't touch me!" and the little ones "Embrace me!" King was confused, and avoided them altogether. He couldn't help but cry out in confusion.
And the next room was even more disturbing.
King saw himself in the room, holding a knife and killing young kits in a basket, lips blood-caked. Blood was spread on bread, blood was in jars, blood was slowly becoming a monster that seemed more phantom than monster. Just as the monster groped for him, he was in another dreadful room. King screamed.
This time, Greely was here.
Greely was staring at his paws, ignoring everything in the room full of goodies. King walked around Greely, threw pies in his face, slashed Greely until his claws were bloody, but Greely kept muttering the same thing:
"Oh, dear, I should have cut my claws today...insanity and greed...order and balance...Amelia and me...Harper and Marco...Love is insane...Spill the blood, Admiral! Get the orb!"
King had no idea what Greely was doing, but he didn't have time to ponder the matter.
And another room loomed above King, but now he was at a crossroads. He was about to run for Momma as shadows crept along the walls, laughing, when a rugged wolf appeared in the doorway to his right, staring at him.
King found himself following the wolf into a small antechamber, where a tapestry and a pure orb sat under the cloak of darkness.
"King, anyone unworthy of forgiveness would be insane by now. I am proud that finally somebody can stand such torture, and you may be purified by this orb..." the wolf said, smiling. King hadn't felt  that tortured, but he took it as a trophy anyway.
 He was skeptical, after hearing Crazy Greely in the last room, but he smashed his face into the glass.

 King was in the Township, but now everyone was chanting his name.
"King, King, King."
He felt proud, and smiled to the sun as all of Jamaa lifted him up on their shoulders, and King thought:
Maybe scamming isn't that good after all.

A Part Two

 King awoke in paradise.
Literally.
 A lush temple around him grew bursting plants, with not-so-faded marks in the stone. Scents of rare and exotic flowers drifted in his nose by breeze, and the temperature was just perfect.
Evil may have lurked here before, as there were a few phantom corspes hanging from the trees, but everything was at ease. A river flowed nearby, the insects and birds sang in harmony, and the grass seemed to form a bed around King. A few birds-of-paradise looked down in his eyes, which he found creepy.
"Where am I?" King asked his newfound friends.
"In the Lost Temple Of Mira,of course!" a bird that had two large forehead plumes squawked. The other birds nodded.
"I thought that Jamaa Township was Mira's temple!" King complained, but the birds shushed him.
"Yes, it is sacred to the Sky Mother, but this is a temple the Alphas still have yet to show to the public!"the birds said. Somehow, Elvanto had implanted knowledge of Mira in his mind, despite his fuzzy mind. King's mind was full of questions, but first he wanted to explore. So he got up, and went out a crumbling doorway.
The birds made no attempt to stop him, and started preening as if nothing had happened.
King saw many various plants and animals, along with a lily lake and a crumbling courtyard with various buildings and artifacts scattered around.
If you had read the Mira Gate, those events happened a long time ago, and since then the place has grown lusher and less tainted by the years. Today, it is known as the Paradise Party's location. The well is just where the Timekeepers once stood, as they had crumbled away to nothing.
 Suddenly, Elvanto's voice came back just as King was enjoying himself.
"Since you have sinned in the Jamaa Township, Greely asked me to embark you on a mission. I agreed. Follow the bane, and retrieve the orb..."Elvanto said, but the breeze swept his words away.
Probably an old enchantment that prevented any phantom contact, King thought. A silver coin dropped from the sky, and it landed on his fur, and melted into his flesh. Suddenly, King felt a desire to go into the most intact building in the forest. So he went in, and discovered quite a fright.

To be continued...

When Marks Teach Lessons

 King Majormajor walked around the Township, and suddenly had an idea.
He snuck to Mira's ruined shrine, and changed into ripped robes. Mira's eyes stared down at him with pity, although he swore that her eyes were never like that. King walked back into the township, and collapsed.
"I am poor, send me unwanted stuff!"he cried with his best poor voice. A few Jammers sent some blue Macaws, and cards attached to items rained down on him. King laughed.
"You are foolish, I was scamming! Now may Mira make you even more stupid!" King shouted, and ran. The Jammers made no attempt to catch him, which was unusual for King.
 Most of the time his victims chased him screaming "SCAMMER."
He lay under Mira's wings, looking at the sky and his new rares. Suddenly, a voice echoed through the Township.
"King, if you are really a King, then I dare you to climb Mt. Shiveer!" the voice shouted.
"Who are you?" King shouted back. The voice laughed.
"I am the ghost of Elvanto, the wretched Phantom assassin! I dared defy good, and I died at the hand of Harper! My dares cannot be refused...and only those who are truly wretched can hear me, go try."the voice said. A chill went down King's spine, and his paws moved against his will. The voice laughed again.
 King's mouth moved against his will as he emerged into the crowd as Jammers chattered like birds.
"Anyone hear that Phantom?" he asked the crowd.
Everyone was silent for a moment, then started laughing.
"You are lying, scammer. Go ahead and climb the mountains!" everyone laughed. King's face turned beet red, and he fled to the mountain against his will, although he would have done it anyway.
 
 King scampered over the thin ice covering a spring, and went up the path, past the slide, past the cave, past the magic boundaries. Suddenly, the weather grew harsher, and yet Elvanto insisted on staying as a tour guide.
"Dis is where the Ram Spirit Stone was destroyed, and now it hangs with a replica in the Shiveer Shoppe and Jam Mart Clothing. Mira was angry, and sent a storm all the way from Cloud Peak. It still rages today."Elvanto said. As if that wasn't obvious.
  King kept climbing the mountain, as harsh as the weather could be. Somehow, Elvanto controlled his muscles so that he couldn't turn back.
He could only go forward.
 King slipped, and Elvanto made no attempt to hold him up.
Then again, he was just a ghost.
"Argh!"he shouted as he barely got a pawhold on the sheer cliff.
Rocks tumbled down the slope, plunging into the forest below.
"Help!" King shouted, but his claws slipped from the rock, and he was plunged into darkness.

 To be continued...

The Creation Of Ook

 You may wonder why I'm doing a MonkeyQuest myth, but it is one that I retrieved from the oldest archives of the Chamber Of Knowledge, at the back of the shelf. Those old tomes are really dusty, you know.
 This is a tale of Zios, and here is how it goes...


 Ook

 by Amy Jiao


 Zios was not satisfied when he created Jamaa, and snuck off with some of Mira's feathers and a few pieces of Jamaa in the darkest part of the night.
 He found an empty patch of ocean far from Jamaa, and started to weave, for he could string thread of the fabric of time as easily as a human may do a Cat's Cradle.
The Crossroads area came first, as a small crater where he cast the first feather. The feather made a small lake, and brought up some lava in a nearby crater where Zios threw the second feather.
 Grass and trees grew, and the temples dedicated to Zios's monkey form sprang up. Since Zios was Father Sky, he could become any animal, and so sometimes roamed among the mortals. Sometimes, he would actually fuse with a certain animal, and that animal would be chosen to become an Alpha to guard the Spirit Stones he had made out of his own soul.
Next, Zios created Jade Mountain, where large reservoirs of Jade lay. This time, he created a mostly barren land, but with plenty of rivers, bamboo and Foo pandas, pandas with a larger appetite and a very bouncy fat store under their hide than Jamaasian pandas.
 Zios still wasn't satisfied, and made a mountain range, along with small trees to supply wood, the tall mountain of Z'or that ruled them all, and plenty of walruses for meat.
 Yet, Zios thought some things were missing. So he created an area where swamps and bogs were common, and the earth's blood seeped up to feed the overgrown plants.
 However, Zios liked to do his best, and made a final part of the land.
A beach sprung up with a small island off the coast of the landmass, and he created  many ocean animals to roam the bay. At that moment, he named the land Ook, because the land seemed to act like a monkey's land to him.
That was it! The intelligent people of the land would be monkeys! So Zios created monkeys, but they weren't very smart. So instead, he created mystical creatures to evolve into smarter monkeys, and recalled the stupid monkeys back to his mana reserves.
 But Apophis was still in the Sea Of Chaos, as Zios hadn't customized Earth much yet, and he was up to no good.
So Apophis broke off a piece of himself, and created Ka, the Shadow Demon. Ka, and his evil minions, haunted the land. and covered Ook with their souls, as the phantoms desire in Jamaa.
Zios was horrified, and broke Ka into a million pieces, and put each of the pieces into a chest, all of which were scattered across the land. Since Zios's land was nearly destroyed by then, he recreated everything, but remade the monkeys, and a chameleon to instruct his next hero, the Monkey King.
Zios was tired, and barely made anything else. He named the chameleon Enzo, and tried to make both the Monkey King and Enzo as much as he could like himself, but both were a tad vain. So he created five monkeys, and placed them in the corners of Ook.

 Zios went back to his bed of stars in mixed feelings that night, as he thought over the creation of Ook.

The Snake, The Fox, Miroza and the Mask

 It was a normal day for Miroza, dreaming of Jamaa and other things. She was watching Zios craft Ook out of pieces of Jamaa when suddenly, a strong gale whisked her spirit off to Mira's resort....Cloud Peak, a mountain overlooking the Lost Temple Of Mira, where the dream gate fed it's well-being. Miroza rarely bumped her dreams against her mother's, in pain and sorrow for her painful life.

 Amelia wasn't having a normal day, either.
She was watching the stars outside the Alpha Hut when suddenly, Greely pounced on her wearing a Gothic cloak. The black stunned her for a moment, but then Amelia pinned Greely to the ground. The cloak fell off.
 It seemed like Greely had hesitated to pin her and kiss her, because her lovely face seemed to not want wolf slobber all over. Amelia sought out the fault in his pathetic pin.
"Men,"she snarled,"always falling for a pretty face. You ought to go to Cloud Peak and see the true meaning of beauty!" Greely looked shocked, but Amelia gave him a lick anyway, and let him up.
"Greely,"she asked the grey wolf as they both collected themselves,"you don't usually do such things to your girlfriend. Not even Shade experienced this. What on Jamaa is wrong with you?" Amelia looked at Greely's aging face, seeking the smallest crack in his soul for her to see his heart.
"Well, Amelia,"he said after a short period of evaluating what he wanted to say,"I've sensed an abnormal change in Miroza's dreams. We must teleport to Cloud Peak, where all the old Alphas are waiting to be reborn. I hear that the raccoon alpha has been reborn a while ago, and Mira will get him/her to Jamaa...Oh, how Mira erased our memories of the alphas not yet reborn!"
Amelia took Greely with her to Cloud Peak at the word "reborn", but not before letting out a cry to let the other alphas know where she was.

 Miroza put her feet on the clouds, and looked up at Mira perched on a throne of dreams from a time long ago.
Mira smiled. Miroza struggled to smile back.
"Daughter, I wish that we saw each other awake...My, have you grown in your sleep! In my dreams, I have created a son from the souls of your guardian kestrels... So, take Zilch the snake to the Lost Temple Of Zios back in the Beta times, and fuse him to the door and his mask to the curtain. Travel back in time with my blessed powers." Mira said, planning out what she wanted Miroza to do.
"Mom, but why? And my own powers are sufficient  you know, or even this Zilch we know of." Miroza complained. Mira shook her head.
"No, I'll take the pain for you any day, Miroza. Parents do that, although Zios is a bad parent, not attempting to come back for Zilch, you, and to rid Jamaa of the phantoms." Mira looked hurt talking about Zios, so Miroza put the subject aside.
 Just then, Zilch appeared in Miroza's golden talons, wearing a white paper monkey mask. The snake was as wonderful brown, just like wood. Amelia and Greely also appeared, and seeing that Miroza had a job to do, they distracted Mira from the pain of her mana being depleted by chatting with her.
 Miroza used the dream gate to travel back in time, back to the Beta times.

 Nobody recognized her, as they were teaching the young Jammers about Jamaa. Snowyclaw was somewhere in the crowd, as Miroza could sense the little hero in there.
 Miroza crept to the door that would be Brady Barr's lab  years later, and fused Zilch there so that he could watch her sleep peacefully. The snake appeared to be a tribute to snakes, as Jamaasians valued all animal species, so the phantoms wouldn't suspect anything.
Next, Miroza fused the mask to the curtain. The mask was the eyes of Zilch, as the door was only an anchor for his spirit.
"Watch my dreams, O' brother."she whispered to Zilch, and the eyes sprang to life, at least deep in the Dreams.
But Miroza wanted a tribute on the marble to remind Zilch who he was to watch. Miroza scraped the etches of her image in the marble, and traveled back to the present to once again watch her dreams.

Where The Scarves Venture

 
These scarves have been left on the racks despite the weather for a while now, as if waiting for the perfect owner. But who placed them there, and why? This story may been more magical than it seems...


 Greely had been tampering with the wool scarves for a while now, and was getting tired from mana drainage. Suddenly, though, a red scarf moved, then the white one!
"Scarves, wrap yourself around Otto so he isn't so cold." Greely commanded, but the scarves looked away, if they had eyes.
"Walk over to Otto the elephant to wrap yourselves around him...."Greely growled at the finicky scarves, even going as far to project a memory of Otto to their petty little minds, but the scarves had other plans.
"Wait!"Greely shouted, but it was too late.
The scarves had plopped into the SALE basket of winter clothes Harper had wove from satyr wool, and the owner of the Jam Market absentmindedly picked up the basket and strolled to the rack outside the old castle.

 As the scarves were hung on the rack, the owner dropped the SALE label into the snow, and it was never found again. The Jammers awoke the next snow day, and took many of the scarves for themselves. Later, the owner realized that those scarves outside were his, and placed them on the shelves as Jamaaliday scarves. However, the first scarves Greely had enchanted refused to be moved from the rack, and to this day they hang mysteriously outside the castle.
But what was Jam Mart before it became a shop, and why was the Mart owner so absentminded? However, that is a story for another day...